Kody
by Obi the Kid
Summary: Pre-TPM time-frame. Jaythen is 12 . Jaythen's unique Jedi-telepathic ability is used against him and threatens the life of another boy.


**TITLE:** Kody

**AUTHOR**: Obi the Kid

**RATING:** PG

**CHARACTERS:** Jaythen Talari, T'narr Kresson, Marcus Kaavi, Eryck S'val

**SUMMARY:** Pre-TPM time-frame. (Jaythen is 12). Jaythen's unique Jedi-telepathic ability is used against him and threatens the life of another boy.

**NOTE:** This story will make more sense if you've read my other stories that star T'narr and Jaythen.

**DISCLAIMER:** The characters and venue of Star Wars are copyrighted to Lucas Films Limited. I make no profit from the writing or distribution of this story.

_**This is story is part of a challenge I made to myself. My goal, to take the 12 songs titles from the Matchbox Twenty album "Yourself or Someone Like You" and write a story that goes with each song title (these are NOT song fics). In no particular order, the stories will be called: Real World; Long Day; 3AM; Push; Girl Like That; Back to Good; Damn; Argue; Kody; Busted; Shame and Hang. They will be a mix of Jaythen based stories, Yappy Obi (YO) stories and Qui-Gon & Obi-Wan based stories. I hope you enjoy!**_

"This is wrong and I won't allow it. It could emotionally harm my apprentice. A risk I am not prepared to take."

T'narr Kresson stood tall, towering over the Tarkian delegation. The ruling party consisted of five, led by Alasim. The most commanding of the Tarkian was short, thin and covered in green scales, but as strong a presence as the big Jedi had seen in a long time. A powerful being in a tiny package and one that was determined to use T'narr's apprentice, Jaythen Talari, before allowing them leave the planet.

The Tarkians had discovered Jaythen's secret by accident. Stumbling onto it when the young Jedi was caught trying to read the mind of one of the few force capable Tarkians. The ability Jaythen held, of being able to read the thoughts of almost anyone had been kept silent by T'narr since the talent was discovered a few years back. At first, Jaythen could only read other force users, but as time went on, he began to have success reading those who had no claim to the force. It was a delicate and frightening skill possessed by a child. Recently, they'd decided to share the information with close and trusted friends, Master Marcus Kaavi and his apprentice, Eryck S'val, secure in knowing that the secret would never be betrayed.

Of course, the main rationale behind T'narr's wanting to hide this ability possessed by his apprentice was for the exact reason presenting before them now. It didn't take much to know that that ability, that power could and would ultimately be used against Jaythen at some point.

That point had come.

Alasim stood his ground against the big Jedi. "The boy does as we say or he does not leave. And if you find a way to leave, I will be certain that his _ability_ is known across the galaxy. He will have no free will once word is spread that he can read thoughts of non-force users. He will be hunted and used for the rest of his life."

A large hand ran through long black hair. T'narr tried to maintain face. Tried to keep his cool. It was difficult.

He took a glance to his left to see fellow Jedi Marcus Kaavi in all his proud blue form, eager to jump into the argument, but keeping quiet as his friend had asked of him. Neither Jedi had an apprentice near. The younger Jedi, Jaythen, and his best friend – also Marcus's apprentice – Eryck, were being held in an adjacent room under heavy guard. They were safe, for now. But if T'narr couldn't get this turned around, things would get ugly.

"President Alasim, please." T'narr again tried to reason, his patience on the verge of complete collapse. "What you ask, although I understand, is not a simple thing. Yes, Jaythen can read thoughts of some non-force users, but it's not so easy as you may think. It puts an incredible strain on his body and mind. And the thoughts he finds, there is no telling how those might affect him. This boy that you want him to read, Kody is his name?"

"It is. He is a criminal."

"He's too young to be a criminal. He's barely older than my apprentice."

"He has seen many things. Activity that is harmful to this planet and its citizens. He refuses to tell all, thus he is condemned a criminal."

"For being afraid to tell you about things that have probably horrified him?"

"There is no place for fear on Tarkian. One must tell what they have seen, or one will forfeit freedom and life."

"You will kill him for this?"

"This is our way, Jedi. It has been for thousands of years. You cannot change what we are. You were called here to assist us and this how you will assist. Your boy will read Kody's thoughts and tell us everything. Or he too may forfeit his life."

T'narr shot a hard glare at the small cocky leader. "If a hand is set on my apprentice, there will be consequences."

"Then you should bring him forward in one standard hour. You are dismissed."

Marcus moved first, taking all four of his arms and pulling T'narr out of the room. A moment later they entered another room to find Jaythen and Eryck sitting together, looking nervous and uncertain. T'narr had felt the twelve-year-old in his head while he was out of sight. He knew Jaythen could feel every emotion and word that his master was thinking. Fear shown in his young green eyes. T'narr went to him but Jaythen spoke first.

"I'll do it, Master. I don't want to, but I don't want to die here either. Maybe it won't be so bad."

"Padawan."

"If I don't they'll hurt me or worse. And maybe Eryck too before they let you and Master Marcus leave."

"Are you certain?"

"No. But it's our only choice. And maybe I can help Kody."

A deep breath and T'narr put an arm around his apprentice. "I will stay with you, Jaythen."

Jaythen nodded, feeling a little relief, but still scared. He relaxed a bit more when Eryck sat closer and offered his support as well. It was silent, but it was solid.

An hour later, the four Jedi entered the chambers where the Kody lay quiet. He was conscious, but lightly drugged. His strange round eyes were nervous and fearful. The tension in his body was easily evident to the naked eye. Alasim stood at his head, flanked by his other four and by three armed guards.

Overkill, T'narr thought as he moved forward with hands on Jaythen's shoulders - the boy staying one step in front of him. Behind, Marcus and Eryck would watch closely, quick hands ready to detach their sabers if necessary.

Alasim addressed the young Jedi. "Enter his mind. Extract his thoughts. Tell us what he has seen. If he falters in any way, you will continue." Eight more armed guards appeared around the room. "Do you understand, Apprentice?"

Jaythen nodded shortly, silently reaching for T'narr.

_***Master.***_

_***Here, Padawan.***_

_***I'm scared, Master. I can't do this.***_

There was a pause and T'narr tightened his hands on the small shoulders.

_***You can, bala-da. Only when you are ready.***_

Boots moved forward, tapping on the glass floor until the pair stood at the edge of the sleeping cot. Jaythen set one hand on Kody's arm and the other on his forehead. Kody was similar in appearance to all other Tarkians. Small and thin. His round eyes colored orange and flashed nervously back and forth as Jaythen readied himself. T'narr refused to break contact with his apprentice, even as a guard attempted to step him back. Two blue hands made a point of moving the guard away from the Jedi Master. Marcus may understand the danger they were in right now, but he would not allow T'narr's young learner to step into this alone.

The first thing Jaythen did as he found a connection to Kody's mind was to reassure him. Both boys were terrified. He wondered if perhaps he could link to that common bond to make this easier. Using fear to bond with another wasn't all that impossible as T'narr had taught him in the past.

He spoke into Kody's mind.

_***Hi Kody. My name is Jaythen. I'm a Jedi apprentice. I think you and I are the same age, or close. I have to dig around in your mind for a little while. I don't want to, but I don't think your president will let me go home unless I do. He wants to know all the bad things you've seen. If you can think about those things, I can read them from you. It's easier if you help me, but if you're too scared, it's okay. Please, Kody. Can you show me what you've seen in the last few months?***_

Kody didn't respond the way Jaythen had hoped. He fought the Jedi by using every bit of his strength to not think about the horrible things he'd seen. And he kept at it until Jaythen had no choice but to force his way in and force the terrifying thoughts out.

The Tarkian child screamed in horror as Jaythen's commanding young mind began its descent. The images he'd tried so hard to forget came flooding back, attacking his mind in one powerful rush. Death. Torture. Violence. Thoughts so vivid that they almost became images as they were extracted from his mind. Images that no one should ever have to witness, especially one so young as Kody. He'd been tricked into the violent world upon the death of his guardians. Orphaned and confused, Kody was taken in by those intending to use him. Jaythen saw that he'd been lured into trusting them, convinced that they cared about his well being. Then they'd used him to lure innocents into traps. To lie for them to the security forces. To stand with them as the helpless were broken and killed. The number of times he'd attempted to escape the life was high. Each time, he was retaken and punished to the point where eventually he stopped trying and acknowledged that there was no way out, except… Jaythen was stung at the next thoughts. Thoughts about a boy so scared and hopeless that attempted suicide became the only way out.

Various methods he'd tried and all were countered by his criminal family. They brought him back from death each time. Again he was punished for his efforts. Eventually, he stopped those attempts as well. He'd become a programmed, emotionless monster with no way to escape. When the authorities found him one day and took him into custody, a tiny part of him thought his days of horror were over, but these 'good guys' only wanted him to relive the last three years of his life and tell them the story of every detail of every death he could recall. In a way, they were no better than the criminals.

As Jaythen shoveled through Kody's mind, he verbally – out loud so Alasim and his group could hear – relayed all that he could. On the outside, his body was stiff with tension, his eyes red with emotion. On the inside, his head felt ready to explode. At some point, he'd dropped to his knees, but never broke contact with Kody. Far away, he could feel gentle hands on his shoulders. T'narr was still there.

Now Jaythen was struggling to battle his way out of Kody's thoughts. He was desperate to get out. It was to the point that he could feel what Kody felt as each death happened. The details were so crisp. So raw. He needed to get free of the trap of memories. But the exit seemed to have vanished. The boy was holding him there, refusing to let go.

He pleaded with the young Tarkian to release him.

_***Kody, you can relax now. Please let me go. I can't help you if I can't find my way out. You gave them the information they wanted. It'll be okay now. You'll be safe.***_

Jaythen could feel Kody altering his thoughts. It was difficult, but he thought to the Jedi that he would never be safe again. Alasim would release him back into society. Those he'd ratted on would find him, know what he'd done and end him. His only hope for real help was to keep Jaythen trapped in his mind, holding him hostage until safety was assured. Jaythen's body ached. His head pounded. He heard himself moan and felt arms go around his chest, trying to physically pull him away from Kody.

His weakened mind found T'narr's.

_***Master, he won't let me go. Says he's not safe with these people. We need to make sure they provide for him. Please. This connection with him, it hurts. My head is so heavy. Please talk to them, Master. Make them promise that he'll be safe.***_

T'narr motioned for Marcus to come forward and hold his apprentice. Marcus was quick to the boy's side. Eryck was as well, kneeling next to his best friend and putting a hand on his arm. T'narr found Alasim and stood over him.

"For the information he's provided, you will give Kody a secure place to live. He is concerned that he will not be safe once he releases my apprentice from his mind. He must be provided for and not tossed back onto the streets."

"We have no room for a criminal boy in our drove. We cannot give him what he seeks. Thought about this he should have before he took up with the unlawful ones."

T'narr drew his green blade and held it to the throat of the president. Immediately the weapons of many guards were on him.

"You kill me," T'narr threatened, "and your leader goes with me. I will make sure of it. Alasim, I will ask you once more. Give this boy safety. He's given enough. You owe him that much."

Alasim snorted a breath and flicked a few loose scales at the Jedi, completely unconcerned with the weapon at his throat. He did however, give in. "Fine. He shall live. Have your boy tell him that and release your light sword, Jedi."

_***I heard, Master. Thank you.***_

Jaythen responded quickly before turning back to Kody.

_***Kody, you will have safety. It's promised. Please let me go now. I promise you'll be okay now.***_

There was a delay. Kody was unsure. He wanted to trust the one in his head, this Jaythen, but he knew his people. Ultimately, he released his hold and when he finally let go, Jaythen collapsed backwards, taking Marcus and Eryck with him. T'narr untangled the Jedi heap and began touching and scanning his learner. Jaythen had rapidly fallen into unconsciousness, his arms and legs hanging limply as T'narr lifted him and began towards the door.

"Alasim, that boy gets a home. My apprentice promised him that."

"Be gone with you Jedi. You have twenty of your minutes to get to your ship and depart."

"Kody needs looking after, Alasim. Don't you go back on your word."

"Go, Jedi. All of you. Or this boy dies." A blaster was trained to Eryck's head.

Marcus came up behind his fellow Jedi Master and pushed him to the exit, pulling Eryck with him. "Go, T'narr. Move. We've done all we can. It's out of our hands now."

The foursome hurried out. Marcus put his apprentice at T'narr's side. "Eryck, go with T'narr. Be ready for anything. I'll get our bags and meet you at the ship. Go, boy, go!"

"Yes, sir." Eryck, average in every way except with his remarkable skill with a blade, took a step in front of

T'narr, his weapon drawn but not yet ignited. He was prepared to defend himself and his friends if necessary. Thankfully, it wasn't and they arrived at the ship within ten minutes. The big master gave the next orders.

"Eryck, begin the departure sequence. We need to be ready to take off as soon as Marcus is on board."

"Yes, Master T'narr." Obediently, the apprentice worked quickly and had the ship ready in record time. Marcus boarded soon thereafter and commanded Eryck to go. The small transport lifted carefully away from the planet of Tarkian and moved out of its atmosphere to a safe distance. A pat on the head and a 'good job' from Marcus normally would have made Eryck smile, but after what had happened, there was no room for happy. He worried for his friend.

"T'narr will get him settled, Eryck. Then you can seem him. I'm glad to be off that ridiculous excuse for a planet and if we're ever called back there again, the Council will hear some marked words, I can promise ya that! Alasim is beyond impossible. Doesn't give a flying load of Bantha crap about the young ones on that planet. Fools. All of them. That boy is as good as dead."

Eryck flinched at the last comment, although he had been having the same fears. Still, it pained him to hear it, knowing how deeply Jaythen was involved. He hated when his friend hurt. It made him hurt almost as badly.

He was refocused by his master as Marcus spun his chair around and had Eryck verbally run through the procedures for landing. They were hours from Coruscant, but it was never too early for a distraction.

In the lone resting room of the ship, T'narr had put his learner on the small bed. Visibly there were no physical issues such as open wounds or broken bones. The boy was exhausted though, and there was no effort on his part to wake. His breathing had leveled off from the almost panting stage it had been stuck in. His vitals had relaxed to normal. The body was recovering. The mind would follow more slowly. The master Jedi pulled a thin blanket from an inset shelf and coaxed it over his padawan as he muttered to himself. "A shell. That's what they equip these transports with. Not enough to keep an insect warm." His oversized robe was shed and draped over the boy next. "Better." T'narr set an unmoving hand on the short black hair. "I'll be here when you wake, Padawan."

And he was.

Jaythen awoke carefully as if testing the air and feelings around him. The first sight he saw was his master dozing in the most uncomfortable of chairs in the most uncomfortable of positions. As horrible as the apprentice felt, that made him smile.

Next, he did what he knew he should not. What he knew he would regret. He reached for the mind that he'd been intertwined with hours ago. Briefly he felt a life. A thought. A goodbye. Then the mind was extinguished, and the boy named Kody was gone with it. Jaythen couldn't help the painful tears that followed as he grieved for Kody's suffering and for his ultimate end.

Eyes closed tight, it was a moment before he registered the voice calling him from his despair T'narr worried over him, as he usually did, and again with good reason.

"Jaythen, come back to me now."

Another moment passed and Jaythen spoke in a hushed, broken voice. "He's dead, Master."

"Kody? How do you know?"

"I searched for him. I found his mind only briefly. Barely. They sent him back into the streets not long after we left. The ones he turned against, they found him quickly. No time to run or fight. I think he'd already accepted his fate anyway. But I promised him, Master. I promised him that he would be safe. And he wasn't. They all used him. Everyone. Even us. We used him to get off the planet. We're as much to blame as everyone else."

"Jaythen…"

"I _**promised**_him, Master. I've never broken a promise. And he's dead now."

T'narr was at a loss. An unnatural feeling for him really. He held Jaythen's hand, but struggled to say anything. And when he did, the younger Jedi cut him off.

"Bala-da…"

"Master, can I be alone for a while?"

"You can," T'narr said as he was slightly taken aback by the request. He hated that he couldn't immediately help the problem. "Are you sure, Jaythen?"

"Yes. Please. Just for a little while."

"We'll be home in a few hours. If you need me before then, just call."

"I will. Thank you, Master."

Once the Jedi had left the room, Jaythen lost himself in emotion again. For the first time in his short life, he truly despised himself and his job, even as part-time as it was. What good was all the training and all the teaching and all the learning if you couldn't take the power that came from that and save a single twelve-year-old child? He couldn't excuse what had happened. He couldn't forget how Kody had been tossed away like a piece of garbage once he'd been useful enough. It reminded him in a way of how the Jedi treated those initiates that didn't have the stuff to be padawans. It reminded him of what he had almost become if not for T'narr taking a chance on him.

But Kody never have that. Jaythen had promised him safety if he would only trust him, and then before knowing for certain what the outcome of the boy's future would be, they – the Jedi, peacekeepers of the galaxy - they ran for their lives.

He brought no true blame on his master for leaving so quickly. The Tarkians had threatened many times to bring harm to them, especially to himself and Eryck, if they didn't not aid the situation. Still, it was painful knowing how much power they had as Jedi, and when it came right down to it, they couldn't do a damn thing to save a boy who needed only for someone to care about him. Jaythen saw so much of himself in Kody and it made his death hurt that much more.

He wallowed in his distressing thoughts a while longer when there was a knock on the door a second before it slid open. It was Eryck looking worried and curious at the same time. He approached slowly.

"Hi, Jay. Mind if I come in for a while?"

"It's okay."

Eryck saw the red eyes and the tired expression and addressed them. He and Jaythen had become close friends during their times together on Coruscant and in the few times that Eryck had come to Kembar Lune. They weren't afraid to ask those sensitive questions that casual acquaintances usually avoided like a plague.

"A lot of crying, huh?"

"Yeah. You know me."

"I'm sorry that Kody died. It's not fair what he suffered or what he was put through."

"I hate what we did, Eryck. I've never hated anything so much. We're supposed to help people like him, not fast forward his death."

Eryck sat in the nearby chair. "I keep thinking we could have brought him with us or something. If only we'd tried harder. But our masters knew the threat to us and they weren't about to keep us there a minute longer than necessary."

"I'm so glad that I have another life on Kembar Lune. If I had to do this every day, it would kill me. You're stronger than I am Eryck. You can handle these things better."

"No, but I'm well sheltered from the worst of it. I love being a Jedi, but when these things happen, I question it. I question it a lot. Master Marcus is always there with wise words though. He knows how to make sense of things that I can't even try to understand."

Jaythen snuggled back into his teacher's robe, comforted by its familiarity. "Most of the time, I wish I'd never become a Jedi. If not for Master T'narr and you, I couldn't bear this life."

"Once you get home to Kembar Lune, it'll get better. You'll find happy again."

"I wish you could come visit soon."

"Me too, but we've got a long string of missions lined up. I won't have much free time in the next five months."

"You know, maybe one day we'll both retire to Kembar Lune and have nothing to worry about other than grooming horses and fielding crops. Wouldn't that be nice?"

"I'd like that. And you never know, the future can be a funny thing." Eryck watched Jaythen's eyes falling. "You're tired. I'll go."

"No. Stay. You…you're relaxing."

"My mind you mean?" Eryck asked playfully.

Jaythen smiled. "I wasn't trying to dig around in there, just looking for a little normalcy."

"They don't come more normal than me, Jay. I'll stay. But you have to rest, or Master T'narr will kill me for disturbing you."

"I will."

Sleep came, but it wasn't restful. Jaythen's dreams were filled with the horror of what Kody had experienced. Those dreams were followed by others of failed promises and the exploitations of a boy whose only true crime was a longing for a life of safety and security.

Jaythen felt the soaking tears as he slept, but all he could offer to the memories of that young Tarkian boy were futile and hollow echoes of apology.

"I'm sorry, Kody. I'm so sorry…"

_The End_


End file.
